Interlude: John Miles-Music was my first love

Ukraine: Strikes Crimean Naval dockyard , destroying Russian Submarine and Landing ship

(Sevastopol)  Early Wednesday morning (14/09/23) the Ukraine struck 2 naval targets - Rostov-on-don a Kilo type Submarine and the Minsk a Project775 Ropucha-class large landing ship. The targeting was somewhat easy as both were in dry dock undergoing maintenance  for the Rostov-on-don and repairs for the Minsk after it had been damaged by an earlier Ukrainian attack on the 3^rd of August 2023  and so the Ukrainians knew exactly where they were.

New Sevastopol dry dock higher resolution satellite image shows heavy damage on both ships hit; Ropucha landing ship and Kilo submarine.#Sebastopol https://t.co/snrsyfdIY4 pic.twitter.com/xbvVAdhzG5

— Tom Bike (@tom_bike) September 13, 2023

The loss of both ships and the blockage of two major drydocks until both wrecks are cleared will impact on the Russian Navy’s ability to conduct offensive operations for a while.

The loss of the Kilo Submarine will be the largest loss as it is the major launch vehicle for the Kalibr cruise missiles which it has been doing with impunity since the war started in Feb 2022. The Russians started with 2 kilo class submarines in the Black Sea, with usually 1 at sea and the other 1 in dock. The loss of 1 will now impact Moscow ability to launch missiles, not only that but due to Kyiv’s lethal strikes on the Russian fleet in and around Crimea, and after the sinking of the Moskva April 2022 by the use of Anti-Ship missiles, Moscow has relocated most of its Black Sea fleet to the port of Novorossiysk as far away from Ukraine as possible in which to keep them out of harm’s way. That said, the Captain of Krasnodar the other Kilo class submarine in the Black Sea, was gunned down and killed on the 10^th of July 2023 apparently in revenge for the missile launched by his submarine on the Ukrainian city of  Vinnytsia in July 2022 of which killed 27 civilians, including three children.

The loss of the Minsk landing ship, may not be felt now, but if the Ukraine manage to take out the Kursk bridge, then its loss will be felt. Also if the Ukrainian army makes progress in its march towards the sea, it would also allow the Russians to quickly redeploy troops from the sea, but that is something of a guess seeing as of the 6 Project 775 Ropucha-class large landing ships Moscow had in the Black sea at the start of its invasion of Ukraine in Feb 22,1  (Minsk) has been destroyed and another 3 are currently undergoing repairs after been badly damaged by Ukrainian attacks . Meaning the Russians understand only too well how these ships are vulnerable and as we have seen, they have become somewhat adverse to putting them in harms way.

British Army showcases Anti-tank missile Drone

(London) At the 2023 Defence & Security Equipment International show currently taking place in London, many new weapon systems designed from feedback from the ongoing war inside the Ukraine have shown their face for the first time, one such weapon system is the Hydra 400  which is a pioneering new generation of heavy lift drone using hybrid propulsion technology. Compact and portable, the drone can be transported in the back of a Hilux or similar and assembled ready for flight in six minutes. The drone is powered by single spool jet turbines, producing 500N (50kg) thrust providing a maximum lift of 400kg and can be armed with up to 3 Brimstone anti-tank missiles , the British army hopes to have a working prototype carrying out trials by the end of the year and hopefully the weapons system will be taken on strength in 5 years time.

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Interlude: Sweet - "Co-Co"

Interlude: DAVE AND ANSELL COLLINS - DOUBLE BARREL

Interlude: The Sound of the Suburbs - The Members

Interlude: The Monks - Nice Legs Shame About The Face

Interlude: Linx - Intuition

Interlude: Nick Lowe's: "Cruel to Be Kind"

Interlude: Coast To Coast - Do The Hucklebuck

Crimea: Ukraine targets and strikes the Kerch Bridge again.

(Kerch Strait) one of the reasons Putin launched his invasion of the Ukraine was to capture a land bridge to the Crimea which he failed to do when he annexed the Crimea in 2014. This resulted initially in everything been flown and shipped in (at great expense) which was alleviated somewhat when at great expense Russia constructed the 19km Kerch Bridge 

Consisting of a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea construction began in 2016, with the road bridge completed in 2018 followed a year later by the rail bridge.

The Bridge is the major supply route into Crimea for everything, which is why the Ukraine targeted in last Oct knocking the road bridge out till feb 2023 and the rail bridge to May. Well last night the Ukraine targeted the bridge yet again knocking out one of the road bridges.

Initially the Russians refused to admit that the bridge had been hit, simply claiming that an emergency had closed the bridge. But now they have claiming that the Ukrainians did indeed target and strike the bridge. According to state-backed Russian media, Vladimir Konstantinov said Ukraine had committed a "new crime" by targeting what he called a "civilian" facility.  It never fails to amaze me how bully’s always play the victim card when their victims fight back.

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Interlude: Real McCoy - Another Night

Interlude: Kid Creole & The Coconuts : "I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby"

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Iran: Seizes oil tanker Advantage Sweet. claiming it carried out a hit and run.

(Gulf of Oman) The Iranian navy has released a video of its commandos landing on and capturing a Chinese-registered oil tanker in the gulf of Oman. The excuse Tehran has given for doing so is they claim the 159058 tonne Advantage Sweet carried out a hit and run on an Iranian Ship injuring seven crew members

The only problem there is, huge oil tankers are usually afforded the right of way at sea simply because they are that big, it takes time and distance for them to change direction, never mind stop. So there is an international hierarchy regards the rules of the road at sea and by the looks of things the Advantage Sweet should have been at the top of the pecking order.

But as this is Iran, they haven’t provided any evidence of a damaged ship, so basically it appears that the mad mullahs in Iran are playing silly buggers yet again.

Interlude: A Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song

South Africa: Backtracks on quitting ICC, blames communications error

(Bloemfontein) South Africa is not planning to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC) as suggested earlier by President Cyril Ramaphosa, his office says, citing a communication error from his ruling ANC party. Hours earlier, Ramaphosa had said the African National Congress had decided to withdraw South Africa from the court, which last month issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The presidency wishes to clarify that South Africa remains a signatory”

to the ICC, Ramaphosa’s office said on Tuesday in a late-night statement. It said the “clarification follows an error in a comment made during a media briefing held by the governing African National Congress”. The ICC warrant means South Africa – due to host this year’s BRICS summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – would have to detain Putin on arrival.

South Africa: To leave ICC so as avoid having to arrest Putin.

(Bloemfontein) South Africa is part of the 5 nations economic group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) who refer themselves by the acronym BRICS formed by the first letter of each country. In June, South Africa is hosting a BRICS summit and as such it leaves South Africa in a dilemma. You see South Africa  signed up to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998 ratified in 2002, became law in 2002 and so if the leader of Russia happens to attend the June summit, it would legally have to enforce the arrest warrant issued for Putin by the ICC over his invasion of the Ukraine. In response South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa shas stated that he is going to have South Africa leave the ICC. Well I suppose that’s one way to be able to invite Putin for tea.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa attend a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa July 26, 2018. 

Russia: Deploys its latest T14 tank to the Ukraine

(Moscow) The Russian media has revealed that it has deployed its latest Main Battle tank to the Ukraine, albeit in an indirect fore role and not in a tank offensive capability.  The news report states that the tank crews have undergone extensive training before hand and that the tanks have received additional protection.

Initially seen as a game changer when revealed to the world in 2015, that POV has slowly dissipated after Moscow suffered numerous set backs resulting in the 2500 tanks Moscow was supposed to have received by 2020, getting pushed back with no set date for  said delivery, as of 2023 , Russia is said to have received 40.

The problem that Moscow faces, is if the Ukrainians manage to knock out the T14 tank and display its wreckage to the world, then that will be a huge blow to the Russian arms industry which this past year has already suffered a huge setback due to the poor showing of Russian weapons inside the Ukraine.

Sudan: Why is it up in flames?

The current bunfight inside the Sudan is between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) a paramilitary force set up by Bashir in 2013 out of the Janjaweed militias who ran riot inside Darfur Since its birth, it has seen combat in Libya and Yemen. Interestingly the RSF has the support of the UAE and Wagner and on the other side of the table we have the Sudanese military.

Sudan has been in political turmoil after the ousting of  Omar al-Bashir (who ruled Sudan from 1993 to 2019) in 2019 which saw him removed by a coup that year, followed by an attempt by his supporters in Sept 2021 and a successful one a month later in Oct which included the RSF

The military seeing that the RSF was a loose cannon set in motion a plan for it to be fully absorbed into the Sudanese military in Feb this year. Whilst the RSF publicly agreed to this, they started recruiting heavily paid for by goals mines they had captured in Darfur and started massing forces at strategic points around the country, on the 15th of April the RSF carried out a pre-emptive strike at Sudanese military bases across the country and here we are today.
Both sides of the bunfight are heavily armed, which includes aircraft and anti-aircraft weaponry, with reports that civilian aircraft have been fired upon (Saudi airliner on the 15th, a Indian one which saw 3 people killed)

The situation inside the Sudan has been on a downward spiral since Bashir was removed from power in 2019. Which explains the battle for hegemony which whoever wins, won't be the last

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Interlude: Gilbert & Sullivan. : I am the very model of a modern major general!

Interlude: Eurythmics - Sexcrime (Nineteen-Eighty Four)

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Interlude: New Order - True Faith

Interlude:Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Israel: 3 Palestinian gunmen killed after attacking IDF patrol

(Nablus)  Sunday morning saw Palestinian gunmen open fire on a Israeli patrol at a road junction. Unfortunately for them, the people they tried to ambush were the better shots, resulting 3 gunmen taken out and a fourth on realising he had picked the wrong people to ambush decided to surrender.

The Palestinian terrorist group "Lions Den" have admitted they were behind the attack and that the 3 dead terrorists belonged to them

The Lions' Den issued a communique acknowledging the death of three fighters during an ambush on Israeli troops Sunday morning. The IDF says gunmen opened fire at an IDF post near the Jit Junction and soldiers returned fire. pic.twitter.com/xj7UhFfve2

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) March 12, 2023

Interlude: Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train

Interlude: Helen Terry : Now you're mine

Interlude: Jeff Lynne - Video

Interlude: Fun Boy Three - It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It

Interlude: Sad Cafe ~ Everyday Hurts

Ireland: Mass across Ireland over Immigration, Taoiseach calls them far right.

(Dublin) For the past few months across Ireland concerns have been raised regards the huge influx of migrants (primarily Young single males from Africa and Asia) who time and time again have gone out of their way to be as intolerant as possible towards the Irish people. 

The left of the political centre have silenced any questions or concerns by the Irish people over immigration by playing the Far right, Bigot and race card and that usually worked until the other week when the Irish times ran an article over a racist attack on a tented asylum seeker camp by White Irish men armed with Baseball bats . 

What followed was outrage from the Government, pressure groups etc. Then things took a turn when the reporter stated she didn’t see the assault , but rather heard about it, totally contradicting the Irish times article:

That appears to have been the straw that broke the camels back and these past few days has seen mass protests about migrants across Ireland, 

resulting in the Government playing the far right card yet again in which to try and silence the dissent

US: Evaluates new 12” miniature strike munition for drone

(Washington) News has come out that the US Military has started evaluating a small 12 inch, 6 pound strike munition for use by UAVs.  

Fitted with Lazer and GPS guidance which affords it the ability to change direction (And Target) such a small munition affords the US military with a cost effective weapon which will allow them to support Units out on the ground with top cover quicker than waiting for artillery fire missions, with the added bonus that due to the sheer small size, collateral damage will also be much smaller.

Interestingly when Orbital ATK first revealed the Hatchet in 2018, the US military couldn’t see a home for the mini weapon , but it appears the war in the Ukraine, where mini USVs have really shone, has changed the mind of the US top brass.

Norway: selects Leopard 2A7 as its new Main Battle Tank

(Oslo) In 2020, the Norwegian government announced the opening of a competition for the country’s new main battle tank to replace the Norwegian armed forces’ existing fleet of 36 Leopard 2A4NO tanks. The two tanks which they evaluated were:

German Leopard 2 A7:

South Korean K2 Black Panther

Well after a couple of years of making them jump through hoops, the Norwegians have decided to stay with the Leopard with the order of 54 brand new of the latest A7 iteration.

US: Republicans kick Ilhan Omar off US House foreign affairs panel

(Washington)  The Republican-led House of Representatives voted on Thursday (02/02/23) to pass a resolution to remove Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans have argued Omar should not serve on the committee in light of past statements she has made related to Israel that in some cases been criticized by members of both parties as antisemitic.  such as the Tweet below.

Democrats have criticized the push to oust Omar, arguing it amounts to an act of political revenge and that the Minnesota Democrat has been held accountable for her past remarks. The party-line vote was 218 to 211. GOP Rep. David Joyce of Ohio voted “present.”

Her Husband had stated he will fight to get her back on the Foreign affairs committee, ending with :

"Thats what Big Brothers are for!"

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Interlude: Queen - Another One Bites The Dust